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Jun 23, 2013

Baku: beautiful but undiscovered (repost)

Having recently returned from another summer school in Baku, Azerbaijan I reproduce here an article originally written for the British Council blog last year.

After
travelling to Georgia and Armenia on short-term teacher training missions
last year I was looking forward to my visit to the third country of the Caucasian
triangle: Azerbaijan.
I’d heard that Baku, the capital of the fast
growing country rich in oil and other natural resources, was a notch above the
capitals of its Caucasian neighbours: Tbilisi
and Yerevan.
Even so, I was in for a pleasant surprise – or rather blown away – when I
arrived in Baku.

Unlike some
grim post-Soviet capitals, Baku,
which has recently hosted the Eurovision Song Contest – the fact the city takes
a great pride in – was vibrant, dynamic and diverse. Perhaps it somewhat lacks
the scenic beauty of charming Tbilisi
but this is certainly compensated for by the amount of investment poured into
it.

Broad
boulevards are lined with swanky boutiques and large squares with fountains are
decorated by public art. Towering over the well-preserved and polished up OldTown
are three futuristic glass skyscrapers, The Flame Towers, designed as a modern
landmark of the city.

The largest
city on the shores of the Caspian Sea – the
largest inland body of water in the world - was unlike any other city I’ve ever
been to. And it wasn’t just a delightful fusion of old and new. There are
plenty of other cities in the world where you can find modern skyscrapers
alongside traditional architecture (take, for example, Tel Aviv –Yaffo). The Baku blend goes beyond
that and has several dimensions. It’s an intriguing mix of religious and
secular, rich and poor, a place where East meets West and the Soviet past
co-exists with the proud present.

These bewildering
combinations were also apparent in my conversations with the locals. Since I
only had half a day for sightseeing and exploring the city, my main cultural insights
into this fascinating place came courtesy of a group of 19 teachers I was
working with - in the breaks between the sessions.

“What did
you expect? We’re a European country.” responded one of the participants when I
complained about pricey drinks in a hotel bar (EUR 8.- for a glass of wine).
This was counterbalanced by – perhaps a little too personal – questions you
would normally hear in the Middle East: “Are
you married? How come you’re still not?!” Just like in Turkey, Europe and Asia
meet here both in a geographical and cultural sense.

“Armenia
gets support from Russia, Georgia from the USA. We’re the only country in the
region that has supported itself since the Independence in 1991.” And has managed to rapidly
transform itself while maintaining strategically beneficial relationships with
the countries with opposing – and often conflicting - agendas such as Russia, Turkey,
Iran and Israel.

Unlike
other former republics of the USSR,
Azerbaijan
doesn’t seem too keen to say goodbye to all things Russian. Most of the population
is effectively bilingual, effortlessly switching between Russian and Azeri, which
belongs to the Turkic language family and is very similar to Turkish. Also, perhaps
partly owing to 70 years spent under the Communist Soviet rule, Azerbaijan,
despite being the second largest country with the Shiite majority (after Iran),
is surprisingly secular compared to its neighbour south of the border. Most
women’s dress is far from conservative and alcohol is sold freely. The summer
school occurred at the time of the Ramadan and a few participants were fasting.
Yet, others were happily sipping Heineken on the beach, purchased in the
overpriced hotel bar.

The
Crescent Beach Resort, where I was lodged, was situated just outside the city
on the shore of the mildly salty Caspian Sea.
I had imagined the hotel would be full of holidaying Russian oligarchs, their
Gucci-clad wives and children with iPads. But the low-rise hotel with an outdoor
swimming pool overlooking the Caspian was startlingly empty for July. The
Eurovision Song Contest gave the country a chance to showcase their wealth and
innovation but did not result in an expected tourist boom. For most part, Baku unfortunately remains
a popular destination mainly for business travellers from the oil industry.

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Hello and welcome to my blog!This originally started as an ELT resources blog focusing on lexical activities but with time I also started posting thoughts and reflections (or rather rants) on language teaching in general. I still post activities which can be found under the tab called For the classroom - feel free to use them with your students. Whether you use one of my activities or read one of my more reflective posts, please do drop a comment. Good to have you here!